You are looking at the current champion in the ongoing best yachting flashlight contest.

Our first reaction when we unpacked this was, “Junk.” It is a fraction of the weight of the “tactical” style lights we have had in the past. Happily, we decided to test it before sending it back. It is exceptionally bright. The low weight and handle make it much easier to grip and aim. And the battery really does work. The spec page says five hours, we have tested it to four, and can verify that after four hours this light is still very bright.

The Odear rechargeable shown above is our current best buy. At US $37.88 from Amazon (Amazon link) the Odear provides a lot of bang for the buck.

We now have three. One for land use, and two for Cochise. We will order one of their headlamps to test in the dinghy.

Actually, if you care about ergonomics, the best answer starts with a 19 degree angle implemented as a curve…just like a banana. The ultimate “hi-tech” lamp would be a banana with a really bright lens/light assembly where the stem is and switch on top just forward of the thumb. It would look much like the aft half of a 1790s flintlock pistol.

Steve,
Just out of curiosity, is there any information regarding lumen output? How is the beam spread? Sorry, I’m a lighting guy, can’t help myself sometimes, but both factor are important for comparison purposes.
Thanks,
Jono

Hi Jono:
The “data” on all these devices is highly suspect, at least that is what we have found. What we can tell you having now used it on the water is that is is very easy to use, amazingly bright at a fraction of the weight/cost of our other powerful lights, and has a very tightly focused beam.